Apparently, this is a major victory of the patent system. This, this right here, this is what the patent system has come to. This is the destructive effect it's having on this once beautiful industry. Thanks to trolls like Apple and Microsoft, basic, elemental functionality is being removed from devices people already own.

Seriously... WTF? All I can say is, f--k you Apple, and more importantly, F--K YOU GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF F--KING AMERICA. Happy "Independence Day" is right. The founding fathers of this country would blow their own brains out if they were alive today to see what has become of their country--the country they fought so hard for to win their freedom, and ensure freedom to all citizens under their government. The more time goes by, the more I wish I was a citizen of some other country instead.

Apple, or should I say Assholes, I think it's now a guarantee that I won't buy any of your garbage in the future. I'll be sure to recommend everyone else that I know to stay far away as well. Never would've bought an iPhone anyway, but right here's further incentive to stay far, far away. I would like to see Apple go the way of Steve Jobs... to hell.

You know, I really don't like being the guy who tells people to sit down and shut up. Actually I'm usually the one who objects to such statements.

But.

As I type this, people in my country are dying due to lack of food, lack of shelter, and lack of medical care. I have friends who can't afford to get sick. I see homeless people every damn time I go into Boston.

Yes, people who bought the Galaxy Nexus are getting ripped off. Trust me, that is the least of their or anyone else's problems.

See, owning a smart phone - or leasing it, or whatever - that is a privilege here. So is owning a computer. So is having the time to learn how to use a computer, and all the associated geek shit. Education is a privilege, health is a privilege, sanity is a privilege. Honesty and lawfulness are privileges. Life is a privilege. Everything in this goddamn stupid capitalista country is a goddamn fucking privilege.

We only have "freedom" here by comparison to the third world. We send men and women out to fight for our vaunted freedom, and if they come back, guess what? They're free to live on the streets, and free to fuck off and die when winter comes around.

So, not to be too condescending, but next time you post shit about freedom and how life in the US sucks, please retain a sense of proportion; and remember that your smart phone getting functionality removed << people dying.

Given laws against suicide and even abortion, life is a legally-enforced requirement (even for fetuses) more than a privilege. People will be locked behind bars for simple drug offenses, fucking their mental status and life up, but forced to live--in jail/prison--unless the government decides for whatever reason that the death penalty should be given (unless you also killed, raped, etc., you're probably just stuck in the slammer). And I firmly believe that the government's incriminating actions on a person is usually far worse than the drug itself.

People who are old, terminally ill, their entire bodies failing--they're usually forced to be kept alive in a hospital by machines until the very last minute in a vegetative state drugged up to hell and back in an attempt to disguise the pain and just not there at all, and forced into continued "life" beyond what any sane person would want. I sure as hell don't want to know what it's like to have your death extended for hours or even days, in a fucked up highly drugged dream-like state, probably even able to hear (though too screwed up to actually understand) what the other people in the room with you are saying... I'd rather just croak outside of a hospital. [Hey, when I'm that bad off, pull the fucking plug already... fuck life at that point, seriously.]

The only thing I "get" from your post (which I fully agree with, if it was your actual point--though I seriously doubt you meant it in the way I'm comprehending it) is that the government doesn't give two shits about you, me, or any other citizen--it only cares about its own power. Just look at the people the U.S. Government poisoned on purpose--its own--just to get people to stop drinking alcohol during the prohibition. See what that got them: failure and repeal of the prohibition of alcohol. Alcohol is now legal for the most part, and people are able to legally (and safely) drink it if they want if they're of age. And good thing, because I'd surely have to get out of this country if I couldn't drink craft beer. So the government starts all over again, just with different drugs, setting themselves up for more failure, continuing to sustain the black market through criminalization and destroying lives.

What is the point in this post? Well, hell if I know why you brought death, war and shit like that up, but whatever. I don't even know why I typed this post up, and I'm not going to bother replying to this topic again. My point still stands: Apple and the judge who upheld this ridiculous patent can go shove an iPhone up their ass.

I really do hate it when people say "yeah, your injustice is annoying, but kids are starving in Africa". Yes, your example is worse, but that doesn't make the former point right either.

There's always going to be examples of people worse off and I really do feel for them, but we should use them as an excuse to be complacent about our own lives (or worse yet, allow our lives to completely fuck up too).

So really, your comment isn't any better than the muppets who fulfil Godwin's law two posts into a serious discussion.

It appears that your primary complaint about the entire issue is Apple and their army of lawyers, but you lumped in the US Government by way of USPTO. I guess you got whipped up into a frenzy by Thom with the same complaints about the USPTO itself, and left rational thought behind.

I like other comments made here about boycotting companies who entirely or partially moonlight as patent trolls, in this case Apple. Should the rest of the machinery (US Govt, Samsung, Google, etc...) be faulted here?

Note that I don't disagree that someone at the USPTO gave a patent to a common idea, and that shouldn't be possible.

This does prompt me to write my congressmen though regarding the patent process. I urge you to do the same.
Instead of whining about it on the internet, let your voice be heard by your representatives. Remember, they work for you.

It appears that your primary complaint about the entire issue is Apple and their army of lawyers, but you lumped in the US Government by way of USPTO. I guess you got whipped up into a frenzy by Thom with the same complaints about the USPTO itself, and left rational thought behind.

So the United States Patent and Trademark Office is not a part of the United States Government? News to me! Just who does control it then? Aliens? The ghost of Osama Bin Laden? [cue spooky music]

Correct me if I am wrong, but *someone* at the USPTO gave the green light to a ridiculous patent, and some judge in some US courtroom decided to side with Apple and uphold this patent. The fact that Apple and their lawyers are being assholes as usual only connects the two branches of government, and here we have the result: crippling of a braindead obvious feature due to obscene patents that Apple "owns" exclusive rights to.

The founding fathers of this country would blow their own brains out if they were alive today to see what has become of their country--the country they fought so hard for to win their freedom, and ensure freedom to all citizens under their government.

Unless you were... a slave?
Overall, don't kid yourself, it was always largely a story for good children, myths even - we have a decent idea about early history of the US, already fraught with corruption and profiteering (like pretty much everywhere else of course).
Founding fathers were primarily large owners, getting rid of one ~tax burden for them.